Target Celebrates Five Years of GO International With Opening Ceremony: Is OC x Target Next?

I'm not a party animal in any sense of that silly little phrase, but I do love a well-planned soiree. Especially when there's a mix of shopping, "good" celebs, awesome food, and fantastic entertainment.
Target accomplished that delicate balance last evening at the Ace Hotel, where the store threw a bash with Opening Ceremony celebrating the fifth anniversary of GO International.

I'm not a party animal in any sense of that silly little phrase, but I do love a well-planned soiree. Especially when there's a mix of shopping, "good" celebs, awesome food, and fantastic entertainment.
Target accomplished that delicate balance last evening at the Ace Hotel, where the store threw a bash with Opening Ceremony celebrating the fifth anniversary of GO International.

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I'm not a party animal in any sense of that silly little phrase, but I do love a well-planned soiree. Especially when there's a mix of shopping, "good" celebs, awesome food, and fantastic entertainment.

The chainlet's Ace location was transformed into a tiny Target, featuring every one of the 34 dresses available in the commemorative capsule collection. Inside the lobby of the Ace, DJ Mia Moretti spun a mix of our favorite 80s and 90s hits, while staffers dolled out The John Dory Oyster Bar's most popular bar snacks. (I was actually happy that I hadn't eaten since breakfast with all the razor clam ceviche, steak tartar, and anchovy parsley pesto on toast being passed around.)

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There were plenty of celebrity fans wondering around, from The Daily Show's Olivia Munn (who looked adorable in a polka dot dress and Prada clutch) to Lake Bell to Chloe Sevigny (near perfection with slicked back hair and a CS x OC ensemble), and the performances were top notch: First up was Moretti, then awesome step team Bad News From the Bronx, then electric violinist Caitlin Moe, then--in a kind of insane moment--Santigold with none other than Sheila E.

But of course, in the midst of the all the fun, I couldn't help but wondering, "Is this a precursor to something bigger? Will Opening Ceremony be the next label to come out with a GO International collection?"

I pressed OC owners/designers Humberto Leon and Carol Lim on the topic, but they were unfortunately mum. (Although I'd say, given their visceral reaction, it's more likely happening than not! After Prabal, maybe?) However, they were willing to chat about their relationship with Target, which started with Proenza Schouler's collection for the big box retailer. (I happened to be wearing my PS for Target skirt, which I bought at OC the morning it hit the store.) "We launched Proenza with [Target], and it was so exciting, so for us to celebrate their anniversary only made sense."

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Haven't you heard? Target is re-releasing a slew of their most-loved Go International dresses in honor of the project's 5th Anniversary. (Click here to see all 34 looks.) To celebrate, they're hosting a shopping party tonight at the Ace Hotel with frequent collaborator Opening Ceremony. (We sooooo wish that the store's owners/in-house designers Humberto Leon and Carol Lim would team up with Target to do their own diffusion line. But that's another story....) Anyways, here's the video Leon put together to celebrate the collection. It features the step dance team Bad News from the Bronx, wearing looks by Proenza, Tracey Feith, Luella, and more. And it's pretty adorable.

Last night, Opening Ceremony threw a block party on Howard Street (where their flagship is located) to celebrate the stateside launch of Kim Jones' collaboration with Bean Pole, a South Korean retailer. Thus, the party was sort of Korean-themed with a Korean taco truck and cocktails made with soju. To round out the block party vibe, Brooklyn MC Theophilus London performed to a fashionable crowd that included Shala Monroque, Jen Brill, Phil Oh, and Rachel Chandler. Even new Kenzo creative directors (and Opening Ceremony co-founders) Humberto Leon and Carol Lim made time to stop by.
The always stylish and multi-talented Solange Knowles was also there and joined London on stage for two songs after doing a three-hour DJ set. Even though she was probably pretty exhausted from all that, Solange, who is becoming a regular here on Fashionista, was nice enough to chat with us briefly after her awesome performance. Here's what she had to say about dj'ing, stealing clothes from her sister and doing a clothing line.

With so many top-level shakeups at major fashion houses, we've come to expect the unexpected and we're pretty sure no one could have predicted this (at least we were pretty shocked). LVMH has appointed Humberto Leon and Carol Lim, co-founders of specialty store Opening Ceremony, as the new creative directors of Kenzo, effective immediately. As in they are already in Paris piecing together some sort of a collection to present in some format this October.
This news is surprising for a variety of reasons, the first of which being that Kenzo already had a creative director, Antonio Barras, who seemed to be doing fine.
The brand, which celebrated its 40th anniversary last year, was doing well, but not everywhere, according to WWD, who reported dwindling sales in Kenzo's traditional markets, but an increase in emerging countries like Russia and China.
Also initially surprising--that two retail store owners with no formal design training were chosen to take over the fashion house.